Category Archives: Board Game

Initially, I wanted to start a whole new blog on 18xx games but decided it is probably too much work. I think I will just incorporate them into this main blog at the moment until I can justify a new blog by itself. The next one on line is 1861 but in this post, let’s talk about 1848 Australia.

1848 is an 18xx game set in Australia for 3 to 6 players. Designed by Helmut Ohley and Leonhard Orgler, it was published in 2007 by Double-O Games that publishes many interesting 18xx games such as 1844 (2003), 1824 (2005) and 1880 (2010). I will talk about each of these games in future articles.

COMPONENTS

The map is not very big, containing almost 60 hexes which is just slightly smaller than the map of 18TN which has about 70 hexes. The situation for 1848 is actually much worse because many of those hexes are desert hexes and the result is that the tracks are very much concentrated on the bottom part of the map. The map comes unmounted and printed on cardboard stock just as in 1844 or 1880 which is ok although I would prefer mounted maps. The map has bright and interesting colors and it is easy to read.

The tokens are 1cm thick and feels very good. The stickers are not on the tokens yet and you will have to do it yourself. There are no instructions on how to apply those stickers but the designer has clarified in the 18xx Yahoo group and the way to do it is to apply the company sticker on one side and the Bank of England sticker on the other side. There are two sets of white tokens. One set is to mark the par price. Apply the $70 on one side and the $80 on the other side. Then the $90 on one side and the $100 on the other. The balance of the White markers are the gauge marker. There are also 20 red markers to mark loans.

I usually do not play with the paper money supplied in 18xx games and use poker chips instead. I find it much easier to handle poker chips and also easier to estimate the cash holding of companies and players that way. However, in 1848, the publisher supplied a set of nice play money printed on cardboard stock and with bright colors. It is very attractive and also easy to handle and does not fly around if there is wind. But it is still difficult to get a quick estimate of the cash holding and it is still harder to handle compared to poker chips. I will stick to my poker chips.

The company charters, the stock market, train roster etc. are not laminated and is quite flimsy although they are nicely printed and the color is bright. The trains are printed on the same card stock as the play money and they are also attractive. So are the company share certificates. Track tiles are also not laminated.

The Rulebook is okay and made the rules quite clear. Perhaps this is a second revision and they also included a FAQ at the back which was helpful.

One sometimes really appreciates the quality of production of Deep Thought Games but this 1848 is still not bad although I would like my components to be laminated just so that those greasy fingers or the accidental liquid will not spoil my game.

UNIQUE SELLING POINT

There is something unique about each 18xx variant. The uniqueness of 1848 lies in the Bank of England and its ability to give interest-free loans and take in companies in receivership. Interest-free loans + a small map + companies with many tokens = a fierce tokening battle on the board.

Companies may voluntarily take up to 5 loans of $100 each and for each loan, the share price drops two steps to the left. If in the case of a compulsory train purchase, the company can take more than one loan at a time but for each, the share price drops 3 steps to the left instead. When the company’s share price drops to the left-most column, it goes into receivership. The company pays each shareholder (except the director) the par price for each share and if the company does not have enough cash, the director will have to top up.

The Bank of England will then take over the company’s station markers and adds to it the revenue for the city that the station marker resides, on top of a fixed revenue depending on the game phase. This total revenue will then be distributed to all shareholders and the amount can be quite big. Also for each loan taken, the price of the Bank of England’s shares will increase. This price will never drop because loans do not need to be repaid.

The timing of buying shares in the Bank of England and the willful manipulation of companies into receivership is one of the interesting aspects of the game.

The other unique selling point is the availability of “The Ghan” trains. These trains are available for sale after the purchase of the first 5/5+ train and its route consists of only 2 cities/stations. It always starts at the company’s own station and always ends in Alice Spring. It can skip any cities in between but it cannot pass through cities that has been tokened out (i.e. blocked by other companies). The Ghan does not count against the company’s train limits but it also does not meet the requirement that the company must own a train. The Ghan is really useful and also not expensive. It costs only $200. The sad news is each company may only own one The Ghan.

Finally, 1848 is unique in that historically, the Australian colonies were independent before the founding of the Federal State and because of that, each made its own decisions on which track gauges to use. There are three main types and these are reflected in the map as three differently colored regions. In the game, whenever there is a track that lays across these different color borders, a white token is used to mark a gauge change and this gauge counts against the train’s limit. Therefore, a 2-Train may never run from one station in one area to another station in another area because the gauge will count practically as one zero-valued city. However, companies may purchase “+” trains which will allow the train to pass through exactly one gauge change. In our example, if the train is a 2+ train, then it can travel from one city in one area to another city in another area through one gauge change. This brings about interesting decisions on which trains to purchase given the company’s plans and strategy.

THOUGHTS

I think 1848 is a very interesting smallish game. It takes about 4-5 hours to play and offers many interesting decisions. It is one of those games that I will want to play if time does not allow me to play a longer game.

The fierce battles on the board where companies try to token each other out which the help of free loans and in the hope of getting all the K-K bonuses provides tension though out the game. The timing in purchasing the Bank of England’s shares and the possibility of engineering the receivership of your own companies adds extra layers of strategic possibilities to the game.

For more information on this game including the Rulebook, visit this site: http://www.lonny.at

In response to Hiew’s comments in the post below, here are the games that I will be keeping for various reasons, but mostly that they are being played very often. Some of the games are not really “high-brow” games especially compared to some of the games that I am selling such as Goa and Princes of Florence, for example, or from well known designers such as Martin Wallace. I do keep some of his games but unlike movies where I am an auteur person, I do not follow games based on the designer although knowing who the designer is do trigger me to investigate the game.

Many of the games that I keep are easy to play games that do not require like 6 hours to complete. They offer interesting game play, some tough decisions and interaction between players. Some of the games are good to get non-gamers in. And some of the games such as 1856 are long and complex games but I like it too much I would just like to keep it even though I play it only once or twice a year.

So here is the list together with the reason why I am keeping them:

1. 1856 – part of the 18xx series which I truly admire. A superb economic game with great mechanics. Long game but worthwhile. Gives me a great feeling each time I play it.

2. 1860 – part of the 18xx fetish. Haha.

3. Age of Empires III – simple game with some tough decisions. Nice miniatures. Good mechanics.

4. Age of Steam – a rather complex game but very satisfying. Cut-throat. One of the train games I will always play if time does not allow an 18xx game.

5. Agricola and its expansions – cute bits. Good theme. Not hard to learn but put in the cards, the game can be complex and decisions agonizing. Scales very well in terms of players and complexity and the various types of cards make this game very re-playable.

6. Battlestar Gallactica and its expansion – Good and very fun game. Lots of player interaction. The hidden cylon mechanics provide most of the fun to this otherwise quite dry game. But the hidden cylon mechanic alone and the fun derived from it made this a keeper.

7. Brass – another superb Martin Wallace game besides Age of Steam that I am keeping. This is a really, really good game. Each time I play it, I enjoyed it immensely. I am keeping this even though I play online at the turn-based server.

8. Caylus – like Age of Empires and Agricola, this is a worker placement game but this one is at the pinnacle. The mechanics is classy. The game is classy. Good player interaction and very “euro” feel. If I want to play an “euro worker placement game”, this is the game I will think about.

9. Diplomacy – Matured. Evil. Can play 7 people. Real. What a great design this is.

10. Endeavor – Although the mechanics is similar to a few games such as Puerto Rico and Goa, worker placement and all, this game is fast, beautiful and pull everything together nicely and neatly. Our group enjoy this game a lot and whenever we think of a fast and good game, this game inevitably gets mentioned.

11. Le Havre and its expansion – lots of bits, tough decisions. Actually this game did not get a lot of play time from my group but I personally like it because of its design. Perhaps I have some personal liking for micro-management of things, getting this and this so that I can get that, and after getting that, I can therefore score how many points etc.

12. Indonesia – This also does not get a lot of game time but like 1856, I love the mechanics, I like fiddling with bits (perhaps is a reason why I like Le Havre too). And I love economic games which this game provides so amply. A wonderful, wonderful game. I wish I can play more of it but like 1856, the long game time is a problem.

13. Die Macher – One of the favourite of our group. Everytime there is an election or by-election, we want to play it. Have played it many times now and each time, it was fun and engaging, and the game after-taste is something to be savoured.

15. The Settlers of Catan – My wife’s favourite game. I don’t really think it’s that good but as a game to introduce people to play or to play a light game with family and friends, this game is good. Given a choice, I will not automatically want to play this game. It is good with the Cities and Knights expansion but since I am not a fan of this game, I am not keeping that expansion and I keep this base game purely for playing a light game (actually, I am more happy and feel that using the Agricola family game to introduce players to the game is more effective).

16. Shogun – If we want to play a war-like game, it will be shogun. Interesting mechanics, attractive components. Well designed. One of our group’s favourites.

17. Sid Meier’s Civilization (2010 edition) – Good civilization building game although it can get lengthy. But interesting game and scratch that civilization building itch in us.

18. Stone Age – easy to understand mechanics. Interesting game for casual gamers. Fast. My brothers and sisters love this game and requested it to be played repeatedly during CNY. Definitely great family game.

19. Through the Ages – one of the best card driven games I have played. In my opinion, a much better civilization game compared to Sid Meier’s Civilization above. But it is a long game and not very popular with our group. I would want to play this game more often. I admire its design and gameplay.

20. Ticket to Ride – Great family game. My mom likes it. My wife likes it (maybe because she won by a mile!). Great for casual gamers. I am keeping it for that purpose only.

21. Twilight Struggle – One of the best games out there. I really like this game. Those that I played with love this game too. Superb design. The only game I rate that is near to Go. Delightful, interesting, rewarding.

22. Wealth of Nations and its expansions – This game is one of the better economic games out there. Great player interaction as well. Each time I play this game, I feel really nice. Not with the War Cloud expansion though. I didn’t think this game needed that expansion. The base game alone feels cut-throat enough. One of the jewels out there.

I have two more games coming my way, i.e. Automobile and Shipyard, which should arrive tomorrow. I suspect these two are keepers but I will have to try it out with the group and see how these goes.

I may sell off Le Havre and Sid Meier’s Civilization from this list in the near future though.

As the first step in restructuring my life, I will be selling off many of my boardgames, saving those only that I think I will play more often with my friends and my family, or some that I would just like to keep despite having low play rate. There is no point for me to keep those games that I will only play perhaps once, twice or thrice a year. I would gladly sell them off to other interested people who can now buy them a lot cheaper and at good quality, since I take very good care of the boardgames and also that many of them are seldom played more than 3 times.

I would like to sell all of them at as a bundle package. There are 42 games in this list and I will be willing to let them go as a package for RM6,000. As a matter of fact, I will be very much reluctant to sell piecemeal as I will be bound to be left with some games that I cannot get rid of (although all the games in this list are really, really good games…just that I do not have the time to do justice to them now) but I am willing to break the parcel up to smaller bits of perhaps 10 games each, but the games in each parcel will be determined by me and the average price of course will be higher than if you buy the whole lot of 42 games. Just let me know what games you are interested in and I will parcel them for you and discuss about the price.

This post is not really a review of any boardgames, just some thoughts that boardgames inspired. I don’t really know that much about boardgames to be competent to give any of them a good and proper review although some thoughts about the games is possible. But that said, this post is not a review of boardgames.

I like boardgames that has multiple paths to victory, i.e. there are many ways to win, not only one scripted way only. In a way, I think this is how I prefer to view life too. There are many ways to live life, not just one way. I feel lucky to have close friends that have very differing points of view (these groups of friends do not know each other… they may have seen them perhaps during my wedding or during the house-warming but they do not mix).

One group of friends are really money minded. They are really passionate about accumulating as much wealth as possible, doing business and all and they are rather successful. They buy land for development, they buy fast cars (e.g. one guys is contemplating the Ferrari 430 or something), they go out to socialise to enlarge their network, when they go overseas, they go to “nice” places, etc. In short, their whole being is dedicated to making money and spending them on properties and fast cars. Seldom do I hear them talking about their family (except for bad-mouthing their wife) or other hobbies or passion, not to mention such things as love for the environment or protection of animals. They will love the environment and protect animals only if these activities profits them. This is one bunch of friends I have.

On the other hand, I have friends who are idealistic, loves art and culture and sacrifice material comfort for the arts, for the environment, for other human beings. They admire music, or movies, or painting, or stage shows etc. and can converse competently and interestingly about them. They go around and saw the world, travel on budget and go to places that bruises their bodies, just so they can experience the world. And they are really passionate people.

Then of course, there are a bunch of friends who let event lead them. They do what they do everyday, enjoy their life if they can, put up with the bosses, may do bad things if a chance is presented to them (e.g. commit adultery or steal money), but they are really not bad people per se. They are just being influenced by events, so when a good event present themselves, they ride on them and if there are bad events, they go down with them. They manage to live by, even can afford some nice things like a nice holiday or house, but they are that, i.e. they do not have something fixed in their mind that they are passionate about. They just live life as presented to them.

But all of them are okay, they live the life they want and still win. There are multiple paths to victory and no one path is the TRUE path, i guess. And just like in games, perhaps there are victory points and each one will have to choose their path and earn their own victory points, those points that matters to them, those points that they can relate to. Forcing one’s victory points condition on another person that cannot relate to it is just not right.

The tag line of a famous board game reviewer reads “Real men play board games”. While I think that it is an overstatement, or that reviewer is just simply going out there to make an impression, I do think that it is a real serious misconception that board games are only for kids. Real men play golf (which I went crazy about a few years back, and the Taylor Made and the expensive custom-made clubs are still lying in my house begging to be used), real men play poker, real men are into properties, cars, and women. Well, there are some truths in that but there are many other truths in the world, unfortunately.

In short, the general feeling is real men do macho stuffs and playing board games? Oh no, real men don’t do sissy stuffs like playing board games, playing or enjoying music, reading books, cooking, etc. Only losers do such stuffs because they are not up to the macho competition in the tough world. Haha.

After all, we are still cavemen although the world around us have changed. We still hunt for food, we are still very much area control animals, men still wants to ride in the fastest horse, men still have the primordial instinct to spread their seeds to as far as possible and to as many females as possible to ensure the survival and widespread of his genes etc. All these are still true and if you strip all excesses in the current world, that is what one sees.

But all those aside, this is why I love board games:

1. It is competitive.

All games are by nature competitive, whether one competes against others or compete against himself. For example, in the game of Go, my favourite “board game” and in my humble opinion, the best board game in the entire human history, is extremely competitive in nature. Go simulates the human instincts for area control but in a very human manner, i.e. to win a game of Go, one has to be more strategic than the other player but the tactical, hand-to-hand fighting is also very important. However, normally, the player that is more strategic wins, and the way he wins does not necessarily involve a lot of hand-to-hand fight. In Go, one can employ a multitude of strategy, and a lot of these strategies have close similarity to military strategies. As such, Go is a good representation of the human endeavor to acquire and control territories, and as we all know, this involve warfare, life and death.

Other board games too offers competition in a variety of intensity. Some games require lesser competitive intensity while others require higher level of competitive intensity. I normally enjoy games that are of the higher competitive intensity type but I also enjoy, once in a while, low intensity board games.

2. It Offers More Genuine Friendships

Well, I know that by writing this, I may get flamed big time. However, I am thinking of other games or sports such as golf where a lot of people play golf because they want something more than a game out of it. For many golfers I know, they play golf because it is a “required” skill for their career. Companies pay instructors to teach their staff golf for this reason. And although there are many genuine friendships being established in the game of golf, one is always suspicious. Same as in other “high-flyer” interests.

However, because board game are generally seen as more inferior as per my earlier paragraph, many high-flyer wannabes, many of those who wants to climb higher in the social strata will avoid it and would want to spend their valuable time on activities that will enhance their social status or help them to achieve greater heights, such as learning how to play golf or memorizing and researching their Formula One cars or drivers, or trying out various “spa” locations for “good stuffs” so that they can bring their customers to, etc.

As such, the very nature of this will filter out board gamers as the more genuine friendship kind. They play board games because they love the games, not because the game will bring them wealth or status.

3. Board Games Brings Friends and Family Together, and it’s lots of Fun!

I think this is self explanatory. I find that board games really can bring people closer to each other by spending time together. And it is a lot of fun playing board games together, even if one loses.

4. Board Games are Ingenious

Although some board games really sucks, many board games are a brilliant piece of creative work. I am always amazed by how people can create a good board game and all the creativity it requires. And because board games invariably involve rules, it combines both left brain and right brain to be able to design a good board game. Creating and designing a board game is a lot of fun because you have all the freedom to determine how the game plays. You can set the rules, the mechanics and you are solely responsible for the playability of the game. When one does that, it gives one an immense sense of satisfaction.

5. Board Games Trains the Mind, and Trains Character

Although as mentioned in 1 above whereby it was mentioned that board games are competitive, it is worthwhile to mention here again that board games trains the mind. Many board games are simulations of real life situations or events because life itself is a game if we look at it on the macro level. For example, there are games that simulates the efficiency in running a company, or running a factory. There are many principles in life that can be applied to the game to be successful in the game and vice-versa. There are games that simulates warfare and strategic thinking. There are games that simulates negotiations and diplomacy etc. In short, board games are actually simulations and as such, the lessons learned in playing a board game can be applied to real life situations when one arises.

Also, board games are a test to one’s character. It also trains and develop one’s character. In fact, I can see most of my friend’s and family’s characters just by the way they play board games. And via this method, I learn to see myself from a distance, and how I react during the game and I see myself. And I try to improve on areas that I feel I have flaws (for example, I must be more kind and not make others suffer… hahahahahaha).

Well, I think the above are a few of the things on why I love board games. Of course board games have their flaws too. The most glaring is that it is not physical at all and prolonged playing will definitely ensure the decline of one’s physical fitness. So have a balanced lifestyle is important.

Wow, we are going to be in the third month of the new year. Time really flies. And I am also back from the Chinese New Year week-long holiday. It was a really nice week. The theme was of course family and friends but this time, the new theme was Board Games. I am currently a bit into the wonderful world of board games, not that I do not like board games previously, which is the absolute opposite, but this craze is because of the discovery of a bunch of wonderful boardgames and a great place to purchase them and then, most of all, a bunch of friends and family (i.e. my wife, my brother, my sister, my brother in law, my sister in law) to play with.

Gone were the days where MONOPOLY is the ultimate board game along with RISK. We are now in the whole new world of PUERTO RICO, THROUGH THE AGES, POWER GRID, STEAM, etc. And yeah, of course, THE SETTLERS OF CATAN and its expansions.

To those who may wonder, what happened to GO? Isn’t GO a boardgame too? Well, ahem, GO is not a boardgame. GO is life. ahem, ahem.

So over the week-long holidays, we have played all the new games that I bought although there are a few that I have placed an order but has still not arrived (AGRICOLA and LE HAVRE).

In order of ranking, I love THROUGH THE AGES the most, followed closely by PUERTO RICO. I really like CIVILIZATION the computer game but I am really not a fan computer games and THROUGH THE AGES was perfect as a board game that is something like CIVILIZATION. It is not really a stripped down version of the computer game but is a game on its own. In fact, after having played it, I find it even better than the computer version because the warfare and aggression in the computer version is really too annoying. There is just too much emphasis on military might but in the boardgame version, this is very much toned down and one can really start building a civilization. Military strength is still very important but it is much more balanced now.

As you can see above, THROUGH THE AGES is essentially a card game with the scoreboard in the center and a small board that each players has to hold their resources and population. The player’s military, buildings, mines, farms, wonders etc. are placed by the side of their individual boards. Every round, the player has to decide on how to build their civilization, should they build an extra mine so that he can build another lab, or should he build another farm so that he can conscript another worker, should he acquire an action card to take advantage of the offer the card offers, should he “acquire” a leader for his civilization, should he build a wonder, or perhaps upgrade that mine? But wait, oh no, he also has to take care of his civilization’s happiness and that annoying corruption issue!

And if he is weak, he may be subjected to aggression from other civilization or some events will punish his weak civilization, if he is behind in science, his rivals will discover better technologies enabling more efficient buildings or armies etc. And if he is behind in culture, he loses the game.

So THROUGH THE AGES is really an excellent game, my type of game and I really hope to be able to play it more.

PUERTO RICO, on the other hand, is more micro and is a favourite game of many people, including those guys (you know who you are) who stayed over at my house last weekend after playing the whole night’s worth of games, and slept at 6.00 am, and then wake up 4 hours later and play another game of PUERTO RICO because the game is just so good!! And after that, in the afternoon, participated in the Malaysian Go Championship, all of us with red eyes and our brains still in dream-mode.

PUERTO RICO is a really simple game. But it is so good. It is something like Go. The game is just about building plantations or quarries, acquiring buildings, produce good such as corn, indigo, coffee and then either ship them for victory points or sell them in the market for money so that you can acquire more buildngs, conscripting workers to work in your plantations and buildings, etc. At the end of the game, whoever has the highest victory points wins. Simple isn’t it? But the route to victory is numerous and there are many strategies to employ.

Should one use the cash crop-ship strategy or the building strategy? Should one take the Captain card and force the opponent to ship all of his good so that he does not have enough money to buy buildings? Should one even take the Craftman card because it enables his opponents to produce resources which they can then ship or sell before you can? Or should one just take the Prospector card, take the cash and do nothing? The role that one choose in each round is really important. The role choosing during each round is the heart and soul of the game.

Besides the above, we have also played POWER GRID, a game that requires one to auction for power plants, buy resources to run them, build cities around a board and then power the cities. Whoever that can power the most cities at the end of the game wins. This game is also not luck dependent as all information are open on the board. It is an efficiency game whereby you must use the money that you have in the most efficient way, to bid for the most efficient plant at the right price, manage resources so that you buy cheap and don’t get forced into a demand-more-than-supply situation and you need to plan where to build your cities and the cost of building them. If you do not manage your money well, you will find lots of inefficiencies, such as you have too much power capacity but not enough cities to power them and gain money. So the money you invested will go to waste.

Then we also played STEAM. My brother and sister love that the most. It is a game where you build railway tracks to deliver goods from one city to another and score points or earn money. The game mechanics require you to plan your railway track as only certain goods can be delivered to pre-determined cities. You need to also invest in building up engine power so that you can deliver farther, and thus gain more points or income. If you do not have money to buy tracks, you can raise money from the bank by borrowing but be careful to not go bankrupt. The player has many strategic choices, such as building tracks to block other players’ tracks away from rich and desirable routes, choosing cards that enables them to build tracks first or deliver goods first, etc. Again, this is a open information game and no dice rolling required.

And of course, we played the classic SETTLERS OF CATAN which my wife loves. It is a really fun and simple game, involving lots of chatting and negotiation, or just plain coaxing. Each and everyone that played the game enjoyed it tremendously. We also played the CITIES AND KNIGHTS expansion but I felt that it just clogs up the original game by adding a bunch of things such as babarians and knights which sounds good but when played, I find it clumsy. There is just too many unnecessarily things going on. It is not that there are many things going on (unlike perhaps THROUGH THE AGES) but in the CITIES AND KNIGHTS, I felt that the extra thing to do unnecessarily bogs down the game just so that there are “more” things to do. I will play the original CATAN anytime.

Well, so that’s it for this time. When I play more and/or when the other games arrives and when I have played them, I will write more about them then.